I stopped working on my background for a while to start in on some animation. A brief explanation here before I present the image. This is intended to be generic (probably male generic), which I would use as a template for any other actual animation. I want you to keep in mind that the drawings weren't precisely aligned and that may diminish the smoothness of the animation a bit. Mostly i'm wondering if I should attempt to perfect it by doing it over, or if I should move to the next rotation.
Suggestions? Is it really terrible?
Thanks, Keith.
(http://www.gamesafoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/walk_right.gif)
It's not bad at all. It's really good. Feels real natural. The feet are on the same plane, and it might look better if the far foot sat up a bit higher. Head sits a bit far back too.
Good job. Not bad at all. If we could only see that thing getting colored.
It looks pretty good. For a dwarf/midget/hobbit. := Or maybe just a well-built child...
Good walkcycle though it does look a bit shortish IMO. Of course I am a giant...
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Sat 20/10/2007 01:34:50
Good walkcycle though it does look a bit shortish IMO. Of course I am a giant...
The height looks good to me. Don't listen to the freaky giant.
Quote from: SilverTrumpet on Sat 20/10/2007 01:47:36
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Sat 20/10/2007 01:34:50
Good walkcycle though it does look a bit shortish IMO. Of course I am a giant...
The height looks good to me. Don't listen to the freaky giant.
Hm, no, the height doesn't look good. He's about 4-5 heads tall when a normal person is 7-8 heads tall. That's what makes him look like a midget.
Despite his short build, the animation itself looks okay... There's only a slight hiccup in the transition from the last and first frame.
The cycle on the right is hard to read. When I look at the torso and arms I'd say he's walking away from me, while the legs say the opposite.
--Erwin
I forgot I even posted here. And the one in the right (front view) was posted after I started this thread. I merely replaced the image since they were both on the same pages. In any case yeah the front view looks a little odd, the arms are ok, but the legs need some work, and that part in the torso needs to be fixed. As far as the height I can see how it can look short, so I may redo, or change it or something. I'm currently considering what I want to do and how I want to do this. The arms look a little odd because I don't do any slow-in/slow-out -- Essentially the hands should move slower once it gets tot he top of the arc, and then start out slow, and finally swing more down the middle. Also a few people suggested I need to add a little spring to his step to make it more lively. So i'm deciding how I want to do this. I may redo these soon.
Thanks for the feedback!
Keith
Okay I had to change the name of the post so that people would look at it anew, and so I could keep new images in the same thread, and not clutter up the board with a bunch of useless threads.
I did a new version, and it didn't come out too well, and I could have fixed it. But then some people suggested The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams, and I decided to use that to make the next walk cycle. So I decided to add it. To me the newest (second one) looks almost like a double-bounce. I'm thinking I should redo it again, or should I add the arms now? What do you think?
(http://www.gamesafoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/walking.gif)
Keith
Those 3 are very nice and fluid, but each one says something different about the character.
The first one is a big, tough, macho type guy.
The second one has a very pronounced limp.
The third one is a very feminine walk.
So really it depends on if that's what you're going for. Good job, though.
Of the three, I think #3 moves the most smoothly. I think the reason #3 looks effeminate is that the elbow bends so far backward as the arm swings back. Additionally the shoulder moves forward and backward quite a bit, which suggests to me that his torso is twisting a lot as he moves. But aside from these minor issues it's really a good sequence, I could see it working as a base animation with a few adjustments.